The Respawn Protocol
by ConfusedFanUnit
Summary: The Order of the Stone fought a dragon. And while the dragon was defeated, the Order will never be the same. Many years later, Jesse and their friends are excited to go to Endercon, and are determined to enjoy themselves, even if the Ocelots antagonize them. But this convention, on the anniversary of the fight, will be much more than they ever expected it to be.
1. Chapter 0

Authors note: Hello! This is a crosspost from my Tumblr account, which is under the same name. On that blog, it is not under this title. That is because I didn't realize until today, that I wanted to make it a multi-part fic, so I gave it a title. I hope you enjoy.  
[Do we still have to write 'I don't own these characters, they belong to the original creators' or has that time passed, it's been a while]

* * *

Soren stands there, in the Order's Hall, but he doesn't feel the usual pride, or joy.

No one else is there with him, the graceful tower abandoned by his friends and fellow heroes, left as a stunning reminder to the world that anyone can be great.

What a **joke**.

He wanders through the Hall, stopping at the center, just glancing at the empty halls leading to the places his friends used to be. The multiple patched areas from where Magnus destroyed the tower and they had to patch it in a hurry, the stray piles of redstone dust that had blown out of Ellagaard's lab, the splinters of wood and bone that once made up the training dummies that Gabriel obsessively trained against, they scatter the dusty and uncared for floor.

And the scattered shards of glass from Ivor's testing of potions remain as well.

Soren knows he should clean all this up, that leaving it this way will do nothing for him but make him suffer, but...he can't let himself touch anything. Can't let himself change anything. Not...not anything major.

He shakes his head, moving down a hallway to get a pair of gloves. He can at least clean up the glass. That's a hazard, if any animals try to make the place their home. Cats and wolves know better than to eat wood and redstone, those are natural enough to prepare for, but glass is a human-made invention, and he can't risk it.

He returns quickly, gathering all the shards in his inventory, careful to not step on or disturb any of the other remnants. It takes him a while, before he feels he has collected all the pieces. He looks around once more, before heading off into his own wing. He doesn't bother to close the door, as he walks.

The floor in this area of the Hall is much less dusty, but once he enters the main area the dust is replaced with scattered and crumpled pieces of paper. He sighs, walking over to an object that looks like a furnace, dropping the glass shards into a hopper on top. As he watches the glass slide into the heated block, he smiles. That's one thing that can be reused, and he's glad for the slight distraction.

When his eyes start to hurt from watching the intensely glowing melting glass, he reluctantly makes his way over to a desk at the back of the room. He pulls off the gloves, dropping them on the floor nearby, before he rubs at his face. His research is going nowhere, again, and it distresses him. He didn't expect it to work, in all honesty, but...if there was any way for it to work, even a sliver of a chance...he had to keep trying.

He already couldn't forgive himself, for what he had done. What he had...failed to do. He had to try for this, at the very least.

He stretches out his arms, before looking over the papers that were left scattered over the surface of the desk, hoping that something new would jump out at him, that there had been something he had missed, that now, would be able to be seen. That he would somehow solve everything. That was what he was supposed to do, right? Soren the Architect, Builder of Worlds, Leader of the Order of the Stone...

This was his job. To take the impossible, and make it possible.

But he wasn't sure he'd be able to do it this time, and it kills him inside. If there was anything left to kill. He growls in frustration, sweeping his arms over the desk's surface, sending the pages fluttering all around the room. He breathes, for a moment, letting his head sink, before he hits a button on the side of his desk.

"Recording five. Currently, day 48, After The Ender Dragon." Soren speaks into the room, as he starts to pace around. "Despite my best...efforts...I am still no closer to completing my project since I last spoke. I have scanned over my writings, my books, over and over again, and I am still left with nothing concrete. I refuse to take that for an answer. If this is able to give us anything, if this has been able to allow me to do what I have done in the past, then there must be some way to make this work."

He walks across the room, folding his arms behind his back as he stares up at the block. It's surrounded in iron bars, glass covering even that. As he looks it over, he starts to shake. "The Command Block must be able to do something, about this. It has to be able to. There is…something similar that it seems to be able to have as a function. Something so close, that…I wonder if it can be adapted to our purposes. It has done everything else I have ever asked it to. There...must be a way. There **has** to be a way."

The sound of a button clicking startles Soren, and he spins around abruptly.

Ivor stands at the desk, setting the ejected record on the desk.

Soren watches him for a moment, before nervousness fades to sadness. "...Hello, Ivor."

"Hello, Soren." The black haired man looks around the room, resting his hands on his hips. "I...would ask how you were doing, but...I think that might be obvious."

"...Yes, well...I suppose you could think that." He turns back around, examining the block again.

"...Soren, when is the last time you talked to someone else? The last time you slept? The last time you even ate?" He walks forward, but still gives the orange haired man some space.

"That doesn't matter. I have a **problem** to solve."

"And you can't keep solving it if you keep **pushing** yourself like this! You'll starve, and **then** what am I supposed to do? I don't know how this thing **works** as well as you do!"

Soren spins around again, his face unreadable. "You've been gone the **whole time**. You aren't doing **anything** to help."

Ivor looks hurt, for a moment, before he sighs. "I've been...talking with the people who live around. Checking up on them. Like we...used to do." He crosses his arms, looking off to the side. "...They're making cities, you know."

"I don't honestly care." He wanders across the room to check on the molten glass, again.

"I didn't expect you to say you did." Ivor walks back over to the desk, setting down a small bag. "...I brought you some food. I assumed you hadn't been eating, so...it's got a bit of everything. And I've started work in the garden outside, again. Since you've...neglected its upkeep."

He sighs, staring at the glass. "...I can't give up, you know."

"I know, Soren." He walks over, resting an arm over the other man's shoulders. "I know."

They stand in silence, watching the used glass melt down into something new, something useable. Something that can make other things.

Soren finds it sadly poetic.

"...So." Ivor finally starts, looking over to him. "How are you really doing?"

"Well..." He takes a shaky breath. "...This isn't...how I thought this would end." He slides out from under the other man's arm, turning and resting his back against the warm block. "I thought...we would all stick together. That we...would all keep going. That we could do **anything**." His shoulders slump. "...I feel terribly, **terribly** guilty."

There is a pause, before Ivor joins him on the floor. "...This isn't your fault."

"Oh, but it is-"

"Soren, listen to me. If **I** hadn't convinced you to leave that **damned block** here at home-"

"No, if **I** hadn't thought we should go **fight** the damned thing-"

"You couldn't have **known** what would happen-"

"I **should** have!" Soren's shout startles the two of them. It takes him a moment to recover. "...I should have realized just how **dangerous** it was. It was...foolish for me to think we could manage it at our state. We weren't **ready**. And I pushed us forward anyway."

Ivor watches him, before he looks away. "...It isn't fair to blame yourself."

He pushes himself to his feet, abruptly. "No one else will. So I have to." He wanders back over to his desk, glancing at the bag. His shoulders un-tense slightly. "...Go ahead back to the garden. I'll...meet you outside in an hour or two, alright?"

"...If you aren't actually out there, in two hours, I'm coming back to drag you out myself." He gets to his feet, dusting off his robe. "Got it?"

"Of course, Ivor."

Ivor watches him for a few moments more, before he leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

Soren sighs, picking up the record and placing it back in the machine. He hits the button again. "Ivor has arrived to bring me snacks, and to pull me out of my work. Finally. I expected him to...show up earlier than now. Not that I mind having the time to work, that of course is the most vital. However..." He glances over to the clock across the room. "...I think all this time alone is starting to **get** to me."

He shakes his head, opening a drawer in his desk, pulling out a book. He rests it on the table. "As I started to say earlier, I have...found an **artifact**. An old one, long unused. It is...a book. It speaks of, well..." He sighs again. "... **When** it speaks of is unimportant. But it speaks of command blocks. And different abilities that they can use. I have been attempting to figure out how to activate these different 'modes', if you will, for a while now. While I can get it to create objects as I request, even ones without a known crafting pattern, I am...unable to activate anything else. Supposedly...it can activate the ability to create without limits and to fly, the ability to be unable to effect the world around you...and the most crucial of all..." He looks over to the block again. "...The ability to return from death."

He starts pacing around again. "It is referred to as 'respawning', but does...not list how to activate this ability on the device. Nor, does it say if the ability is retroactive. If I can find a way to activate it...then I can at least try. Perhaps it...requires something of the person, in order to do so. If that is the case..." He looks down at the floor. "...Their armor is always accessible for that purpose."

He stops pacing, finally returning to his desk. "I hope that it will not take much longer to figure out how to cause this to occur. The longer they remain...away...the harder it will likely be for them to be able to adjust to being **back**." He wrings his hands, before pressing them against the table. "...Magnus must be so **frustrated** , with how impatient he is. He's probably talking their ears off, **complaining** to Ellagaard and Gabriel about me taking so long. I...can't make them wait much longer. Having to wait this long is already far too cruel. For **all** of us."

Soren sighs once more, resting his hand over the button. "I must return to my research. I have been given two hours by Ivor, before he comes to retrieve me and force me to go outside. That...I hope this two hours will be enough to fix this." He presses the button, ending the recording, before he starts to page through the book again.

"Come on, Harper... **please** have written something else useful in here..."


	2. Chapter 1: A Well Known Begining

Olivia was concentrating, trying to ignore as Jesse makes fighting noises behind her. Jesse can wait, she has a project to finish.

She quietly closes the chest, arms filled with redstone dust, and makes her way across the room. She finishes up the circuit, dusting off her hands and clothes, leftover specks of dust floating to the floor. She turns and leans against the wall, crossing her arms as she watches her friend.

Jesse steps back, as the armor stand leans forward, blocking with their sword. They push back roughly, following with a swing as the stand leans back. Another lean, another dodge. Another lean, another slash. It almost looks like a violent kind of meditation, their rhythm never faltering.

Olivia shakes her head. "Hey, Jesse?"

"Hmn?" They dodge again, swinging back harder. They narrow their eyes. "Did you say something, Olivia?"

She chuckles. "Just like you, to tune out while you fight."

"Hey! I don't tune out when I **fight** , I tune out when I- **oof** -" They stumble, as they lose their rhythm and take the hand of the armor stand to the chest. They grumble quietly, shoving it back before they start again.

"You tune out when you **spar** , I know." She smiles again, before she returns to brushing the redstone off of her clothes. "...Hypothetical question time."

"Hit me." They barely dodge a forward movement from the armor stand. "Hey! I meant **her** , not **you**!"

"It's a 'would you rather' question."

"My favorite. What is it?"

"If you had to, which would you rather fight? One hundred chicken sized zombies, or ten zombie sized chickens?"

They seem to be considering this, as they continue to dodge and attack the stand. "...I'll take the giant chickens. Not because I think they'd be **easy** , but because they'd be an abomination."

"Just imagine their weird feet..."

"Like I said," They stab at the stand. "An abomination."

She nods, watching for a minute longer, before she pushes herself off the wall. "...So, I've put a daylight sensor on the roof..."

"Mhmm..." They've tuned her out again, fighting even harder against the stand.

"And if I've wired this up right, the lights should go on when it gets dark."

"M **hmmm**..."

She sighs. "I just didn't want Reuben to be stuck in the dark while we're at the convention."

Jesse stops mid-slash, turning around with a baffled look on their face. "He's coming with us."

Reuben steps away from the stand, watching it sway for a moment.

Olivia blinks at them. "...Not that I mind him coming, or anything, but...don't you think it's weird that you take him everywhere you go?" She sighs again, rubbing at her face, leaving trails of redstone dust.

"No!" They cross their arms. "Reuben's my best friend, of course we'll go everywhere together!"

"I thought **I** was your best friend."

"You both are!" They throw their arms into the air, before they sheath their sword back in their inventory. "I wouldn't leave **you** here while I went off to Endercon."

"You would if you got excited and distracted." She smiles, though, as she pushes off from the wall. "...I don't mean anything by it. I'm glad he's coming. I just wish..." She shakes her head. "...Nevermind."

"That people would take us seriously?" Jesse offers, walking forward. "If they're gonna make fun of us, they'll do it with or without Reuben being with us."

She sighs again. "...I know. I'm just...I'm tired of it."

"Hey, one day we'll win, and then they'll never make fun of us again." They grin.

"Those two things aren't related in any way." She grins back. "But okay, Jesse."

A sudden hissing sound starts up at the trapdoor, causing the three in the room to turn and look at it.

Jesse groans. "Don't tell me a creeper climbed the ladder again...We don't have the time to repair the floor, right now! It always takes hours!"

"Only one way to find out, Jesse..." Olivia stays at her spot at the side of the room, waving Reuben over.

They sigh, rolling their eyes. "Just once, I'd like to be the one who **doesn't** throw themselves blindly into danger. You know, just to mix it up."

The hissing returns.

"Tick tock, Jesse..."

"Ugh...fine." They sigh again, before lifting the trapdoor.

A creature with a creeper's face stares back at them.

For a few moments, Jesse just stares in shock and fear, wondering how Olivia and Reuben are gonna split up Jesse's stuff after they're blasted into dust.

And then the figure shouts, " **Boo**!"

Jesse lets out a startled shout, stumbling backwards and falling to the ground. Reuben squeals, running over and tripping onto Jesse.

Olivia flinches backwards, but as she sees the figure climb up, she glares. "Axel!"

Axel laughs so hard, he nearly falls off the ladder. "Man! You should have seen your **faces**!" He fully climbs into the room, the trapdoors closing behind him. "That was the **best**!"

Reuben snorts, offended, pushing himself off Jesse and running over to Axel. He slams into his shins.

Axel grunts, glaring down at the small pig. "...Great." He rolls his eyes. "Now I'm gonna smell like a **pig** at Endercon."

"That's what you get, Axel." Olivia continues glaring, crossing her arms.

"Axel, you scared us half to **death**!" Jesse finally pushes themselves to their feet, glaring as well. "You deserved that, this time."

"I brought you good times, and now I'm being punished for it?"

"Axel." Olivia moves between her two friends, trying to diffuse the situation before the two try to brawl. Again. "Did you bring the fireworks?"

After a moment, he calms down, grinning. "Of course I did." He reaches behind him. "I even brought something for the little guy!" He pulls out a costume from his inventory, white-grey fabric draping down. "Come here, porkchop!"

Reuben looks concerned, for a moment, before he oinks and runs over.

He smiles, helping the pig into the fabric.

"Nice!" Jesse grins. "I told you he'd look better as a wolf, than as a dragon."

"Isn't there a story like this?" Olivia smirks, watching her friends. "'The Pig In Wolf's Clothing'?"

"I still think the dragon idea was cool." Axel finishes up the costume adjustment, kneeling down to place the head onto Reuben's. "There!"

Reuben oinks and squeals, running all over the room.

"Awesome!" They jump up and down, clapping.

"Thanks. It only took me, like, a million hours to build it."

"It looks great, Axel!"

"But you definitely remembered the fireworks, right?" Olivia raises an eyebrow at her friend.

"Yes, I'm ready. Waiting on you guys!" He starts down the ladder again.

She makes her way to the ladder, looking up at Jesse. "You know," She teases, "It he really was your best friend, you wouldn't let him go outside dressed like that."

They raise an eyebrow. "The only thing more dangerous than putting a costume **on** a pig, is taking it **off**." They smiles. "Besides! He loves it!"

She rolls her eyes, before smiling. "We'll meet you downstairs." She climbs down the ladder.

Jesse sighs, looking over at Reuben. "Hey, Reubs. Think we'll need anything else?"

He seems to be considering, for a moment, before he makes his way over to a chest. He nudges it open with his head, rooting around inside.

They snicker. "You know, you could have just said 'this one', and made me get it."

He stops digging through the chest, for a moment, before he snorts once and continues.

They almost double over, snickering. "Never change, buddy!"

He slips out of the chest, trotting over to them. He looks up, a proud look on his face as he drops a pair of shears, and a flint and steel, onto the floor in front of them.

They smile, picking them up and putting the items in their inventory. "All set, boy?"

Reuben nods, smiling and oinking.

Jesse picks him up, looking around the room one last time, before they climb down the ladder.

"Took you long enough!" Axel smirks, as he crosses his arms. "Thought you might have taken another nap, or something."

"Axel, they were gone for maybe five minutes!" Olivia rolls her eyes.

"Doesn't mean they didn't nap. You and I both know how fast Jesse can fall asleep."

"Axel, you have leaves in your hair." Jesse sets Reuben down.

"I told him, but I think he forgot."

"It adds character! It's like...an accessory, or something."

"Whatever you say, Axel." They smile up at him. "Let's go!"

As the group starts to walk, Axel grins, walking with a bit of a bounce in his step. "...So...I heard something exciting about the build competition this year. But you have to promise not to tell anyone."

"Okay, what is it?" Olivia looks at him as she walks.

"Okay, so...it's in two parts, each one more exciting than the last."

"Spit it out, Axel." Jesse narrows their eyes, but they're smiling.

"Part one, is that the special guest at this year's Endercon is none other than **Ivor** the **Mage** him- **freaking** -self."

Jesse's eyes widen, and they nearly stumble. "Woah!"

"What's part two?" Olivia is all smiles, now.

"Part two, is that the winners of this year's building competition are gonna get passes to his keynote! And it's been sold out for **ages**."

"He hasn't been to Endercon in, what, **years**?" They bounce from one foot to the other, looking down at Reuben. "Wouldn't it be cool to meet him, boy?"

Reuben oinks his approval.

"I heard, that back in the day, he would teach people how to make potions, and stuff, during his presentations." She adjusts her beanie. "It would be **really** cool to see his work." She looks...slightly disappointed, for a moment. "...Just him, though?"

"Yeah..." He looks a little disappointed, too.

"Hey!" Jesse turns around. "Ivor is **amazing**! They say his potions are the strongest **anyone's** ever made! His fighting style is a combination of training and improvisation! And, if it weren't for his extensive documentation, **none** of our maps would be even **nearly** as good as they are!"

"Woah!" Axel jumps back a bit, holding up his hands. "Dude! We're not saying he isn't super cool! We just..."

Olivia sighs. "We know Ivor's always been your favorite, Jesse. It just...would be cool to see our favorites too."

They blink, before they let out a breath. "...Right. Ellagaard and Magnus." They look away for a bit. "I bet they'll come back soon. They're just on an important mission, right now."

"They've been saying that for years. You'd think they'd be done by now..." He crosses his arms, sighing.

"They might just keep getting sent out to do things." She spins a strand of hair around her finger. "...Now that I think about it...The End is pretty vast, after all."

"I guess you're right. I just..." He sighs again, adjusting his well-worn hoodie. "I hope I can meet him, one day."

"Well, let's start with right now, and win that building competition!" Jesse grins, bouncing up and down again. "Do we have everything we need?"

He grins back down at them. "We could always grab a bit more."

"We'd better hurry, though." She smiles at the two of them.

"Come on, guys! This year, we can't lose! Cannot!" They hold out a hand in front of themselves. "Bring it in!"

Their friends smile, each placing a hand on the pile.

Jesse reaches down with their free hand, to take Reuben's hoof. "Okay, 'Dare to Prepare' on three! No- wait...'Preparing is Daring'- n-no, that's just the same thing...okay, 'Team!' on three. Ready?"

The others nod.

"One...two...three! Team!"

"Team!"

"Prepare!"

Reuben squeals, as they all run separate directions into the forest.


End file.
